Are you a mycophile? A fungal-enthusiast? A student of mycology? The Australasian Mycological Society (AMS) is bringing the latest in mycology research directly to you. You'll be able to learn from experts in medical mycology, biotechnology, environmental microbiology, plant and animal pathology, taxonomy and systematics, and phylogenetics.

Our seminars occur on the last Wednesday of each month at 12:00pm Sydney time (2:00pm Auckland time). Talks are 30 minutes long and are followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience. See below for the latest schedule of talks.

*PLEASE NOTE: Currently only the February Seminar is available for registration*

This regular event will be hosted on Zoom and is free.

To attend a seminar, register your attendance on EventBrite and we will send you the details of the webinar and a zoom link prior to the date. Seminars will be recorded and available for registered attendees to view (at the discretion of the speaker).

Next Seminar

24th February 2021

Global analysis of microbial inoculants containing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: 84% of the tested products contained no active propagules

Matthias Johannes Salomon, PhD Candidate, University of Adelaide

We performed a global assessment of commercially available AMF inoculants across three continents. 10 from Australia, 15 from Europe and 3 from North America. We observed that 84 % of the microbial inoculants contained no viable propagules.

Upcoming Seminars

24th March 2021

Genomes to Giants: kauri die back and the fight to save these ancient trees

Associate Professor Amanda Black, Bioprotection Research Centre, Lincoln University

Kauri tree species endemic to New Zealand are threatened with extinction as a result of an invasive soil-borne pathogen (Phytophthora agathidicida). In this presentation I will talk about the landscape impacts and the search for tools to manage kauri die back.

28th April 2021

Metabolic drives of host-pathogen interactions in fungal infections

Professor Ana Travern, ARC Future Fellow and co-Head of the Infection and Immunity Research Program at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute at Monash University

Pathogens use sophisticated mechanisms to evade immune responses and drive infections. Our recent work showed how Candida pathogens control innate immunity by metabolic and morphological switches that drive host suicide programs and inflammatory activation.

26th May 2021

How fungi can change ecosystems

Dr Sarah Sapsford, Post Doctoral Fellow, Fungal and Disease Ecology, University of Canterbury

Fungi play distinct functional roles in ecosystems as pathogens, decomposers and mutualists and are thus important in shaping communities. I will present two case studies on how fungi can change ecosystems and how these fungi interact with other members of their community.

29th June 2021

TOPIC: TBA

Professor Treena Burgess, Research Director at Institute, Research and Innovation, Murdoch University

Previous seminars

27th January 2021

Identifying and characterising a zinc transporter involved in the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis

Dr Stephanie Watts-Fawkes, Research Officer, Crop Nutrition, NSW Department of Primary Industries

The aim was to identify and characterise a plant zinc transporter involved the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. MtZIP14 was strong candidate gene, and was characterised for its sub-cellular localisation in colonised roots, Zn-transport function, and loss-of-function phenotype.